In recent years, home systems, in which various kinds of home electrical appliances and/or house equipment items (collectively, indoor device) installed in a home are connected in compliance with a prescribed communication standard (as an example, an energy management system or the like), have been extensively in use in general households. In such home systems, for example, various kinds of indoor devices such as air conditioners, lighting apparatuses, a rice cooker, an induction heating (IH) cooker, dehumidifiers, ventilation fans, and a water heater are communicably connected and the indoor devices can be properly managed (monitored and/or controlled).
Recently, a user can remotely operate indoor devices by accessing such a home system from outside of the home, such as a place the user is visiting, by using a communication terminal, such as a smartphone. However, in reality, a deteriorated communication environment around the communication terminal and/or a low battery voltage of the communication terminal may cause communication to be discontinued, whereby the remote operation is disabled. In such an occasion, the indoor device generally continues an operation based on the last command in the remote operation. Considering that no additional command is given, continuation of such an operation leads to a possible safety issue of concern.
As a prior art technique for the above home system, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a home automation (HA) remote operation system enabling detection of abnormal events.